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As a computer monitor, it's good but not great

Posted 7 months ago

Eidolways

Elite Plus Member

I purchased the 49" unit for use as a computer monitor, connected to a GeForce 1080, for 4k gaming and occasional productivity work and photo editing.
In summary, good but not great as a monitor. I have already purchased a true monitor to replace it, and I plan to return this TV. Details follow.
Picture:
The picture is good and sharp; and while the colors are a bit oversaturated by default, 4K YouTube videos looked absolutely stunning. Motion was smooth.
For gaming, the TV's panel exhibited no ghosting or excessive delay (once correctly tweaked) that made any game unplayable. No complaints there.
OSD menu:
Good and clear, if a bit simple. But it gets the job done and I was always able to get to what I needed.
Smart TV features:
Did not use, cannot evaluate.
Complaints:
As a monitor, this TV lacks in a few areas.
1. Input delay. When set to game or graphic mode, the input delay is short enough to not be a bother. The problem is that the firmware revision I was using has a bug that causes the TV's input delay to jump massively when first the set is first turned on. To fix it, I had to enter the OSD and change the "scene select" to something else and then back to game/graphic/auto. Sometimes leaving the TV in "Auto" would make it auto-switch and that would do the trick. Sometimes I had to do it manually. Either way, very frustrating, and enormously noticeable.
2. The fact that it's a TV and not a monitor means no auto-standby and no auto-power-on. It'll automatically power off after being disconnected for a while. But you have to turn it back on yourself.
3. Resolution scaling is iffy. If your resolution is set to 1920x1080, the content will be scaled to fit the panel. 3840x2160 will also fit, since it's the native resolution. However, 2560x1440 (2K) will *not* be scaled to fit. It will only occupy the center of the screen, and I could not get the zoom feature of the TV to function on this resolution. So 2K fullscreen gaming is right out.
4. While my Windows 10 work laptop correctly displayed text, on my Windows 7 desktop the text always looked "fringey", for lack of a better word. There was noticeable color fringing compromising the clarity of text on pretty much all smaller text, and no amount of ClearType adjustment could fix it.
49" is also actually a tad big for a computer monitor.
All that said, if I were in the market for a well-priced 49" TV, I'd have kept it. It was only my use as a computer monitor that sunk it.

I would recommend this to a friend

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Gibo2

Verified Purchase

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

5

4K TV allows me to watch TV the traditiponal way

Posted 3 days ago

Gibo2

Verified Purchase

Buying a TV for watching TV is not as straight forward as 3 years ago. Many TVs are streaming monitors with ATSC tuners, the remotes don’t have numbers that facilitate direct channel switching, also many of the TVs lack an output for headphones, or Bluetooth output for modern wireless headphones. With the help of a patient sales associate at Best Buy, I opted for this SONY that takes me to TV when I turn on the machine, and I can surf the TV channels with the numeric key pad on the remote.
I plan to wall mount the TV and, therefore, I prefer all connections on the sides. This TV has most USB and HDMI connections on one side, but both optical and analog audio output are on the lower back. I need to cable these outputs before mount the TV. The TV speakers were muted when I plug a cable to the audio output, even when I don’t use a headphone. Fortunately, a SONY web listener advised me to reset the “Speaker Link”.
Although I bought this TV mainly for watching TV, I can watch my video collections by plugging a USB memory stick in to any USB port. I can also easily watch YouTube contents, this TV even allows me to surf YouTube using an external keyboard, avoiding the cumbersome on-screen keyboard. It can even displays closed captions.
Asides the convenience, this SONY displays excellent picture, which does not fade away even if I watch sideway.
This could easily be my ideal TV, if it offered BlueTooth and could skip the analog channels. Other TVs would take me to Channel 7.1 when I push only7 on the keypad, but this one takes me to the blank screen of “Channel 7.0”. A SONY web listener offered no help on this situation.

I would recommend this to a friend

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DiannaB

Verified Purchase

Member

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

5

Great tv

Posted 8 months ago

DiannaB

Verified Purchase

Member

Our old HDTV stopped working so we headed to Best Buy to see what they had. The Salesperson told us Sony was the best seller right now and you could easily tell that the picture was much sharper than the others (for that size) that were turned on. We got home with it and I was able to easily get it set up to work with our DVR and DVD player. I did have to contact Sony about a couple questions (since we have a DVR, we couldn't change the channels with the tv remote but would still need to use our DVR remote. Also, I had trouble getting the apps to show up. They worked with me to get those to display and helped me understand how to switch between our sound bar and tv speakers. Since the sound comes through the front of the tv rather than the sides like our old tv, we might not even need the sound bar to hear the analog channels that are still part of our tv lineup (PBS, for example). When went to to the apps the first time, (I only have Amazon prime, Netflix, & You tube) you will get a code that you have to go onto a computer, log into your account, then put in the code so it will authorize the tv to use the account. I never could get Netflix to work but Sony & I decided it's because my router is too far away from the tv. They had me use the personal hotspot on my phone to get Amazon & Youtube to work but that's my internet providers problem and not a problem with the tv.

I would recommend this to a friend

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Sparky

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

1

Audio and picture syncing issues

Posted 10 months ago

Sparky

If you are hooking up to basic coaxial cable, don't purchase this TV. We bought this TV as an upgrade from our previous Sony, hooked it up, and the audio and picture were out of sync. I called Sony and talked to 4 different people for a total of 3+ hours! Sony blamed the cable company. So we had to pay for a service call from our cable guy, who hooked up all his diagnostic equipment to our cable, and it had plenty of strength and was working perfectly. (We had a TV in this location and used this cable. We knew it worked perfectly, but needed to double check.) It was the TV. So the TV was returned and we got another. Well, it didn't work either! It's going back today.
After researching this problem, I found many articles about the problems of the Sony 4K and the syncing issues.
We have a 4K in our basement rec room, but it runs from a cable DVR box. Problem solved there. But, if you just want to use a basic coaxial cable, this isn't the TV for you. It won't work properly without additional support, which we did not want in this room.
We have always had Sony TVs. This was a huge disappointment.

No, I would not recommend this to a friend

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Brand response

SonyListens

10 months ago

Hi Sparky, We appreciate hearing your honest feedback of the TV. This will surely help us in improving the overall quality and performance of our products. We're always looking to make SONY better. To further isolate the issue, kindly check this link out for troubleshooting steps:https://us.en.kb.sony.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/39698~Ralph

MamaBear

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

5

Excellent (recent Plasma owners)

Posted 4 months ago

MamaBear

After owning Plasma TVs for the past 10 years, I couldn't beleive how hard it was to find a new tv!
Plasma is such a different viewing experience than what is made now. We had a really hard time adjusting our eyes...until we finally found this Sony!
We first tried the $300 55" Toshiba (1080p)...junk. and the $480 50" Samsung (4k ultra hd)...picture sucks if not sitting directly in front of... and finally landed on this $600 gem.
The picture is exceptional. We set to the Standard picture option and brightness is 33. That is it. The picture is beautiful no matter where you sit. We have a sectional and this Sony is the only one of 3 we tried, that the picture looks as incredible sitting directly in front, or at the sectional ends, or at the dining room table.
The picture is so realistic and the best choice for us, moving out off plasma ages!
The other tvs we tried, picture settings had to be changed almost every time we changed the channel...unlike this Sony. Very pleased.

I would recommend this to a friend

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LMert

Verified Purchase

Member

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4

Great entry 4K with HDR

Posted 10 months ago

LMert

Verified Purchase

Member

I've been very pleased with the image quality of the television. It's definitely a step up from my only couple year old Samsung 1080P television. Details in the lower black levels are particularly improved in HDR content and a huge plus over non-HDR TVs. I believe as far as image quality goes, it punches around the top of its brethren at this price point.
However, the Android based UI isn't very expansive and app choices are limited. It's not a deal breaker to me though since I paired with a new HDR BluRay player and other devices that offer any streaming services I'd require. It does have Netflix built in (with a button on the remote) so our most common streaming service is easily pulled up.
The only large disappointment with the TV was the speakers. We had been getting by with our previous TV without any additional sound system (it's not our main "theater" TV), but these speakers are very disappointing. Within the day, I had stolen a set of speakers and amplifier from elsewhere in the house to pair with the TV. Luckily, it does offer both digital audio out (optical) as well as analog out so almost any external sound system can be paired with it.

I would recommend this to a friend

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Luke

Verified Purchase

Member

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

5

Phenomenal picture, fast processor

Posted 7 months ago

Luke

Verified Purchase

Member

I originally purchased the Sony 720e series 4K TV, but after watching it for a week, noticed some rather glaring problems with its 60MHz processing and mediocre picture quality. While good in a bright room, in a dark atmosphere, much of the detail gets lost. Additionally, the audio quality was quite poor and requires a user to turn the volume to abnormally high levels to discern dialogue.
I ended up returning it and upgrading to the 900e.
The 900e's display is simply amazing and I while reviews have said its sound quality is good, I found it to be outstanding, especially with 4K content. The processor can be a bit slow in calling up Google for voice commands, but other than that it's a very responsive and intuitive platform. This TV is pricey, especially for a midrange model compared with a Visio or LG (both of which also boast 120MHz refresh rates). But, if you're concerned with future-proofing your purchase -- both from a manufacturer quality standpoint and a picture and sound capability -- this really is a good choice. I expect to own it for a many years, at least enough until OLED becomes as affordable as LED is today.

I would recommend this to a friend

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Brneydlass

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

1

Beautiful Picture, but there are problems

Posted 10 months ago

Brneydlass

Purchased this TV in the 43" on 8/26. We brought it home and noticed that when you go to turn it ON, it will intermittently not turn on and you have to unplug the power cord on back of TV to reset it. We contacted the local store and they asked us to bring it in and exchange it as we had had the unit for only 2-3 days. We did, and that TV did the same thing. We contacted the store again and this time, opted to exchange it for the same tv, only the larger size (the 49"). Brought that home and it's been just over a month, and this tv is now doing the same thing. Very frustrated. Going to contact both Sony and Best Buy and will update on their next move.

No, I would not recommend this to a friend

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Brand response

SonyListens

10 months ago

Hi Brneydlass, this is definitely not the news we like to hear and we apologize for any inconvenience. You may refer to this link for the troubleshooting steps:https://us.en.kb.sony.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/75501. If the issue persists, please reach us out at socialsupport@am.sony.com and include all information such as model and serial number to further assist you. Regards, -Erin

What experts are saying

People are asking about

4 answered questions about apps

Best answer: Hello craig, this model has a lot of pre-installed applications that you may use like Netflix, Amazon, YouTube and more. Regarding the Pandora application, kindly visit the helpful link below:
https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00153439
Regards, _Bob

Best answer: Hi lakewood, so far we do not have an app list for our TVs as app availability may change (through software updates). The PlayStation Vue app is only available on our Android TVs. You may check this link to see the list of our TVs including the Androids: https://www.sony.com/electronics/tv/t/televisions Thanks, -Mark

Best answer: Hi lowtech, no, this TV does not have HBO Now and is not capable of downloading/installing applications. However, it has the most popular streaming services preinstalled like Netflix and Youtube. If you need HBO Now, we recommend getting a TV from our Android line. You may refer to this link to learn more about this TV: https://www.sony.com/electronics/televisions/x700e-series Thanks, -Mark